Throughout the course of my Masters in Public Administration career, I have gained valuable knowledge to enter into the career of public service. Upon entering my graduate degree coursework, I was unfamiliar with the world of public service outside my love of philanthropy and own volunteer work. Over the past two and half years, I have learned how to think critically when faced with ethical and constitutional dilemmas, manage a budget, understand the policy process, communicate with the public, and manage and lead in a way that is productive to the whole and not the individual. My certificate in Nonprofit Management has paved the way for my understanding of marketing, fundraising, and operating a nonprofit. During my Intro into Public Administration, we focused on a variety of the issues faced in Public Administration today. I was unaware of a lot of the issues surrounding my chosen career path, but after a few months on the subject, I feel much more prepared to understand the ethical and critical issues of the world of public service. In my essay, “The Critical Issues in Public Administration Today,” I addressed the role that effective administrative leaders pursue in effect reorganization and the ability to make ethical and logical decisions. Public Administrators are faced with many decisions on a regular basis that
The course provided a comprehensive background on utilizing Exel for managing budgets and finances of an organization. My final assignment, analyzing the financial trend for the state of Missouri, took into account several factors by looking at intergovernmental revenues, expenditures, debt service, population, personal income, and many more. Utilizing a trend analysis is a crucial way to evaluate the financial issues of governments and provides a broader understanding of situation to make informed decisions for the
In the field of Public Administration there is a highly-defined structure of constitutional, legal, and procedural requirements that are in place to keep those in power in check. That being said, no matter how stringent the oversight, or how well-meaning the intentions of those who serve, Public Service is a complicated field with many landmines to navigate. As the Iran-Contra Affair illustrates, duties, orders, and responsibilities and can easily conflict with each other because there are so many areas of
Worth, M. (2014). Nonprofit management: Principles and Practice. 3rd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Over the course of my college career, I have involved myself with diverse organizations and have led and participated in various philanthropic activities with these associations. Wor...
Worth, Michael J. Nonprofit Management: Principles and Practice. 3rd Ed. Copyright 2014 by SAGE Publications, Inc.
When I began this class, I had never had any experience or knowledge on non-profit organizations. After reading the chapters and doing the project for CHASI, I began to realize that non-profit could be my niche. I chose to pursue a degree in criminal justice, because of the many job possibilities, but I never would have imagined non-profit being one of those possible careers for myself. I was raised under the philosophy from both sides of my family, that if you give, you will get in return, I believe this so much and I have witnessed it personally throughout this semester. I have given my time and effort to raise money for people, who I don’t know and who are less fortunate than some, and although I may not receive money or items back in exchange, I get to feel a sense of pride, which is more than enough. So when I went to the nonprofit career website and looked through the job listing, there were many that I was interested in but only a couple that I could actually see myself doing.
Throughout U.S. history the nonprofit and government sectors have addressed needs that are not being met by the marketplace through the provision of a variety of social goods and services ranging from health and human services to environmental conservation. In response to increased demand for these services, the number of nonprofits has grown by 59% over the past 20 years (Powell and Steinberg, 2006; NCCS, 2010). There are now over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. which account for 5 percent of GDP, 8.1 percent of the economy’s wages, and 9.7 percent of jobs (Wing, 2008). Over the same time period, government social programs also rapidly expanded in number and per capita cost (OCED, 2010) .
Wilson’s focused on the importance of the separation of public administration from the political ramifications. He articulates how colleges have recognized the need for in depth studies of public administration, apart from politics.
Throughout this course my paradigms of what a nonprofit organization have been challenged as we have considered the major aspects and leadership challenges of these organizations. Having worked with for profit and nonprofit organizations in the past I was quite confident that I had a clear understanding of the distinctions between the two. I had worked in organizations that regularly used volunteers to accomplish their mission and felt that the management of these processes were simplistic. Despite these misconceptions, I found that I was able to learn a tremendous amount through our reading, peer interactions, group projects and equally important, my volunteer service as part of this course.
In the future I would like to see myself, as a continuously promoted public official who could possibly become a pro-active politician in today’s demanding political arena. To achieve this, I would like to gain more knowledge which can help me reach intellectual maturity to the latest practices adopted in the field of Public Administration. My desire for self-development in this area and curiosity to learn past and contemporary developments in different societies will help me to solve the problems easily.
Public Administration and business administration can be described as being two different faces of the same discipline. There are several areas where a comparison between the two can be made, the most apparent being efficiency. Attention to profit and the bottom line is more the area of business administration, the less human focused of the two. Business administration is more dependent on other corporations and uses other companies to help deliver its product. Public Administration, on the other hand, is somewhat harder to define, it is interdependent and is motivated by the common good rather than by profit.
American’s view of government today is predominantly a negative one. This is an America immersed in distrust of government. It does not matter if a person leans to the left or right, America believes in the culture and spirit of individual choice. Americans believes it has the right to listen to their individual voice within and believe it is wrong to be forced to obey to the external ideals from government, which is why Americans have difficulties getting behind government and the public administrators who oversee governing agencies, a difficult task I may add.
An undergraduate degree in Sociology has heavily influenced my decision to pursue a Masters in Public Administration (MPA). Academically, I have remained consistent in excelling in all tasks I have undertaken. I have learned about group dynamics and how different approaches are utilized to solve the problems they may entail which are important to serve the public effectively. It also exposed me to broad program planning. In the course of my Research Internship under Dr. Zina McGee, I successfully created a research based program that would help minority youth cope with victimization. This experience further sparked interest in this field, specifically in planning social programs. Selecting courses such as Public Policy and Statistics have broadened my knowledge in the area of public administration and data analysis as well. Through my rigorous coursework, I acquired the necessary background to think analytically, solve problems, and communicate effectively, both written an...
Two years ago, I was writing my letter of intent for my application to the Master of Public Administration (MPA) with a concentration in Healthcare Administration revealing my failures, and most significantly, that I lost my passion and didn’t know where to start. I also conceded that I was relatively unaware of the field of Public Administration (PA). Little did I know, examining PA theories would enable me to connect the final dots in the big picture of my life, where I came from, who I’d come to be, what choices I’d made, the relationships I nurtured, and my dreams and desires for the future. Although confidence came slowly and awkwardly, I discovered my desire to contribute to the advancement of public health policies. I am writing to express my interest in continuing to the Doctoral program in the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). I am absolutely interested in the commitment to the advancement of knowledge, and confident my experience in higher education and academic research will contribute to my successful completion of the Ph.D. program, in the specialization area of public policy.
Public Administration involves the development, implementation and management of policies for the attainment of set goals and objectives that will be to the benefit of the general public. Since Public Administration involves taking decisions that affect the use of public resources there is often the question of how to utilize public resources for maximum public good. The National Association of Public Administration has identified four pillars of public administration: economy, efficiency, effectiveness and social equity. These pillars are equally important in the practice of public administration and to its success. This paper seeks to explain the role of each of the pillars in the practice of public administration.